LONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Europe’s largest tour operator TUI is putting on extra flights to make up for capacity lost after this month’s collapse of Monarch, TUI’s UK and Ireland boss said on Wednesday.

The company’s UK and Ireland Managing Director Nick Longman said it had already laid on extra flights and was looking to add more.

“There will be an opportunity to look at putting some new routes on to the market. We’ve already done that a little for this winter,” Longman told Reuters. He also said that TUI was also looking at more routes for next summer.

Unlike British Airways owner IAG and budget airline easyJet, TUI is not interested in acquiring Monarch slots at British airports, Longman said, adding that extra capacity could be obtained from TUI’s existing slot base and by working with other airline partners.

A spokesman for Thomas Cook, a rival of TUI, said the company was also adding capacity, starting flights from Leeds Bradford airport and increasing capacity at Luton to add a total of 230,000 seats for next summer.

Shares of leading travel companies and airlines rose after Monarch went bust, with investors betting that intense competition in the sector could ease.

Last week, Willie Walsh said that capacity in Monarch’s slots at Gatwick would likely be replaced, but slots at smaller airports might stay vacant.

Monarch fell victim to an intense price war in the airline sector after security concerns disrupted travel to the Middle East and North Africa and resulted in increased competition on popular destinations in the western Mediterranean.

TUI has said that it is looking at restoring holidays to Tunisia. All holidays there were halted after an Islamist attack on a resort in Sousse killed 30 Britons who had booked their holidays through TUI.

“If there is sufficient consumer demand ... then we will introduce a programme to Tunisia. We’ll possibly look at it for summer, but more likely it will be next winter,” Longman said.

On Wednesday, TUI rebranded its British business as TUI UK, bringing an end to the famous travel brand Thomson. Founded in 1965, Longman said that Thomson had a strong brand but has become outdated as travel habits have moved away from traditional package holidays towards city and long-haul breaks.

“Thomson conjures up great nostalgia for many people. But that can also be a bit limiting, and the types of holidays people want are changing,” he said.

Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by David Goodman and Jane
Merriman